Where do the Hawks go from here?

[Joker]

Opinions?

[T21]

IMO, this season (for obvious unfortunate reasons) isn't true barometer of our team... so we need to focus on playing out this season the best way we can and then let ASG and management think with clear heads what's the best strategy for the future...

[phoostal]

New Ownership is the only cure for this team right now

[Devon]

ASG has to be gone...

Sund & Drew HAVE to be gone...

New ownership has to Amnesty JJ

New GM has to make moves... Atlanta would support a winner, but a team that sells draft picks to avoid paying "the tax"... GETTHEF*CKOUTTAHEEEEEEEERRRRREE

[jezmund]

Go after Howard in the offseason. Period

[Wretch]

I need to change my vote....sell the TEAM first. lol

Then rebuild.

Edited March 16, 2012 by Wretch

[MoBetta]

U can't win a championship with horrible ownership. It's never happened.

[Watchman]

My last post got sent into oblivion so we'll try it again.

My take of the poll question was what will likely happen rather than should happen. Status quo slightly above the cap wasn't an option, so I picked the last category. What SHOULD the team do? Get new ownership, rebuild, get new coach and GM.

[frosgrim]

I read the poll like Watchman; thus, I answered off the belief that the ASG is keeping the team. If the ASG keep the team, then it is more of the same because we all know if you keep doing the same, things will change

[DJlaysitup]

IMO, this season (for obvious unfortunate reasons) isn't true barometer of our team... so we need to focus on playing out this season the best way we can and then let ASG and management think with clear heads what's the best strategy for the future...

I wouldn't count on THAT happening T.

[KB21]

Not that it will happen, but I'm leaning towards rebuilding. I'll get into the reason in a bit. Here's what we have to realize though. At this point in time, it doesn't appear like the ASG is going to sell the franchise. I am definitely of the opinion that the Hawks need better ownership, but I also feel that if we keep this current ownership group, then they need to go with their limitations. The first thing they need to do is stop trying to give the impression that they are willing to spend money. That impression has only served to saddle this team with some very bad contracts that have kept this team from getting the kind of quality players they need to advance further in the playoffs.

If ASG keeps this team, they need to bring in a front office and management team that will run this organization like it is a mid level to lower market organization. You have to be much smarter with the money you spend, and to do that, I'm of the opinion that you have to embrace basketball analytics and advanced statistics. Obviously, you shouldn't make all your decisions based on analytics and advanced stats alone, but you definitely can use this information as a tool to help you make more cost efficient decisions. A group like the ASG cannot pay three star players the money they are paying Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, and Al Horford and also field a competitive team around them without going into the luxury tax threshold. However, they can possibly pay two of them good money and be very smart with how they use the money on the team surrounding those players. It is especially hard to support those three when you also have other bad contracts on the books as well.

A few things the Hawks can do in a rebuilding effort:

1. Place less emphasis on volume statistics and more emphasis on efficiency statistics.

2. Realize that players who are on their rookie contracts have value to a mid level to low level market team.

3. Put more value on draft picks than they have done in the past. If the Hawks have a smart scouting staff who is assisted with advanced anaylitics, even these late round draft picks that they seemingly like to throw away in trades to get players who have bad contracts will give them cost effective ways of acquiring players who can contribute.

4. Put less emphasis on skills that you really cannot quantify such as athleticism and more emphasis on skills that can be quantified and are undervalued such as rebounding (rebounding rate), efficient scoring (Points Per Play), and assisting (assist rate). Players like DeJuan Blair and Kenneth Faried were overlooked because they didn't have prototypical size and prototypical athleticism, but they brought a ferocious rebounding skill to the table.

The first step would be to get one of these young, Daryl Morey and Sam Presti type executives who have embraced the analytical side of basketball to make their teams more efficient.

Here is a good link discussing the model the Oklahoma City Thunder use: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:3j62-3LccQ8J:136.142.82.187/eng12/Author/data/2228.docx+daryl+morey,+sam+presti,+richard+cho&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgk-H2YBAx7ShCiyL-_CSHFeWDJJMGu7JkylO-m_9jMmLoyvg6kQHBHhaShhFuEFP762CQq70cjLJYXWPlV1KvLIvA3eb7DJLgZFcmW3Exz7qNXTpB2LevSdRaFhEsWYrrlrosq&sig=AHIEtbSar35wMwz5daKZn3PYyAduEXkJyQ

Basically, the Hawks need to rebuild this team by gutting it of the bad contracts they currently have and optimizing the money that the ASG can actually spend comfortably.

[KB21]

To add, one of the guys that would be at the top of my list of potential GM candidates to replace Rick Sund is Sam Hinkie, current assistant GM of the Houston Rockets. Another guy I like is Tom Penn, who is formerly the assistant GM with the Trailblazers and current analyst for ESPN.

[Randy]

KB21 - very interesting article. The OKC model is a great example and might be the one to follow.But it may not be repeatable. One problem is that luck always plays a big part. Had they not gotten the no. 2 pick the year Durrant came out, hard to say where they would be now. If they had gotten no. 1, would they have taken Oden? If so, then OKC might well be a floundering franchise right now. Had the Hawks gotten lucky and gotten Durant they might be viewed as the model for success.

[Supporter]

The article said that okc still wouldve taken Durant with the #1 pick, so it might have to do less with luck than one might think.

[HawkItus]

Man what analytics actually won? Houston is not a success story. OKC won the lottery with Durant. But, let's see them win something.